A Father and a AAAA Player

Posted By on May 25, 2019

First, I want to say how appreciative my wife and I were with the kind words, thoughts, and prayers that were written last week. I say my wife, because she read them all to me while I was waiting for the next doctor to poke and prod. Suffice to say, I had a scare that has dissipated since my Tuesday ER visit. I had my last follow ups on Thursday and I am released for all activities, including work and exercise. I was reassured by my doctors that there was no correlation between my medical scare and the Dodgers bullpen.

What the scare has done is to re-focus me on the adage that life is too short, and this episode has pushed up my retirement date. It will also allow me to actually identify who my son is. Many have asked and until now I have resisted because there are a lot of mean people out there that are very unkind to AAAA players.

45 years ago today, at 10:00 AM my wife and I were married in Reseda, CA. 15 years ago today, we were walking out the front door on our way to Lake Tahoe when our son called me to say…” Dad, I just got the call. I am going to the Show”. It was impossible for us to get tickets for a cross country flight, so we could not be there for his debut, but we did watch it on TV at a bar at the Hotel we were staying at.

That was the start of a whirlwind 5 days that took us from Sacramento to Boston, back to Sacramento, and on to Maui, where we were going to celebrate our 30th Anniversary.

That first night was not kind to Andy Dominique, as he struck out against Justin Duchscherer. He was not alone as he struck out 3 of the 5 batters he faced. Justin struck out 4 of the 6 batters he faced in 2 perfect innings the next night. Andy was not one of them.

What was more than special was how he was greeted by the Boston fans. As he was announced, the Game Announcer mentioned this was Andy’s ML debut, and the crowd went crazy, shouting Annnnn-dy, Annnnn-dy, Annnnn-dy (in the best Reggie Jackson form). Boston players stepped out of the dugout because they had never seen anything like it.

We got to Boston for his next AB against Ricardo Rincon. He hit an absolute pea into LF that would normally have gone for a double, except Eric Byrnes was playing LF and he knew Andy from college days and knows how he likes to pull So he cheated more to the line and made a running and diving catch of Andy’s line drive to take his first hit and RBI away. Unfortunately, Eric was one of my wife’s favorite players when he was playing for the Sacramento River Cats. Not after that play. Actually come to think about it, so was Justin Duchscherer.

We were sitting in the Oahu Airport on Sunday May 30, when we got a call from our daughter who told us that Andy got his first hit and RBI. After the Mariners scored 6 runs in the top of the 8th to take a 2-run lead, Jason Varitek singled and Dave McCarty doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Eddie Guardado, the Mariners closer, was asked to relieve Shigetoshi Hasegawa and close out the win. Johnny Damon hit a sac fly to score Varitek for the 1st run. Due up was Pokey Reese, but Tito sent up Andy to PH for him and he lined a single into right center to score McCarty and tie the game they went on to win on a Dave McCarty HR. His first hit and RBI at the ML level. Later that night on ESPN, John Kruk gave him a shout out for his first ML hit. Andy and John were good friends and kindred spirits.

While we were in Hawaii, the Red Sox made a trip to Anaheim where my Daughter drove my Mother-in-Law from Sacramento just to watch her grandson. Andy did get into the first game of the series and struck out swinging against K-Rod. He wasn’t alone as Kevin Millar, Johnny Damon, and Mark Bellhorn also struck out. The game was a huge highlight for his grandmother and fulfilled a dream for her that she got to experience before she passed away later that September.

After the 2004 season, the Red Sox approached Andy and asked if he would like to re-sign with them for 2005. He would not be on the 40 man, but he would come up and down as he did in 2004. He was a minor league free agent, so he was free to sign with any team. He loved Boston but his agent thought he could find Andy a team where he could have a legit shot at sticking on the 25 man. Boston understood and wished him well. The Mets convinced Andy’s agent that he would get that legit shot to be Mike Piazzi’s backup and 1B and RH PH. Let’s be kind and say that Omar Minaya and Andy did not hit it off very well, and Andy was released late ST 2005. He signed immediately with the Toronto Blue Jays and was assigned to Syracuse. Yes, Alex Anthopoulos was involved. We saw him play against the Twins in Minnesota. The highlight for us was to see his WS ring that was delivered to the Blue Jays at the same time he was called up. Andy was most proud when he walked up to Doc Halladay (RIP) with his ring and said…”Doc I know you are a CY winner and all, but do you have one of these?”

On June 28, 2005, Andy suffered what would turn out to be a career ending injury, totally misdiagnosed by the Syracuse medical team. Running out a ground ball, Andy tore his plantar fascia so severely that the 1B on the Durham Bulls heard it pop as he landed on the bag. The Syracuse staff did not immediately give him a MRI to diagnose what had happened. All they did was make him feel that he was a malingerer. He finally told the medical staff, okay go ahead and shoot me up and I will go play. When we learned this, we immediately called my wife’s nephew who is a sports orthopedic surgery in Kansas City and consults with the Chiefs and Royals. He got on the phone with Toronto and asked to see the MRI. When he was told that there was no MRI…let’s just say he was not pleased. Andy was immediately flown to see Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham where he was told that his season was over, and maybe his career. He should have been put in a boot immediately after the injury. What made this extremely frustrating for his parents was that Andy played with multiple concussions, a broken hand, multiple meniscus tears (2 surgeries – one post-season and one pre-season). He was not a malingerer.

Andy, who was not a top draft pick, and was never going to be more than a AAAA player, but one who wanted to keep playing, never made an issue of the misdiagnosis. He was released and signed with the Seattle Mariners for 2006. Andy was in a lot of pain and knew that it was over after ST and called me to tell me he was done. It was a sad day, because we knew how much he loved baseball. He was called by the Red Sox to come back and go into coaching. He was called by the Dodgers to sign a Minor League contract. There were other teams, but Andy did not want to start all over again and walked away from the game he loved. His foot has never properly healed and has led to medical issues to this day. As well as playing with the concussions. One quick example…a night after he suffered a concussion, Andy was told that he would not play the next game. Unfortunately the team ran out of players and needed Andy to play 1B. He was instructed to just play the position and not do anything stupid. Instead there was a foul ball that he dove into the stands to make the catch. That is who Andy Dominique is.

After an All-American season as a 3B at the University of Nevada-Reno, Andy was drafted in the 26th round of the 1997 MLB Amateur Draft by the Phillies. He went to Batavia, NY, in the NY-Penn League where he tied for the league lead in HR with 14 and made the post-season All-Star team. In 1998, he played in Piedmont, NC where he battled with Marcus Giles for the power lead. Andy was 5th in HR with 24 behind Giles (37), Bobby Cripps (29), Jeff Spencer (28), and Alex Escobar (27), and 2nd in RBI with 102 behind only Marcus Giles (108). In 2002, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for that proverbial Cash or PTBNL. Andy had a very good Boston MiLB career and was the starting catcher in the 2004 AAA All Star game played at Pawtucket.

For his Minor League Career:
Games – 927
PA – 3,824
AB – 3,318
HR – 122
RBI – 569
Doubles – 218
Triples – 6
Slash Line – .270/.354/.449/.804
BB – 385
HBP – 72
K – 607 (15.87%)

He was even above .500 in SB attempts; 14 SB, 12 CS.

At UNR, Andy still holds the season HR record (30), career HR record (62), season RBI record (96). He is all-time #2 in career RBI (239) behind Lyle Overbay (257). He is in the top 5 of season and career leaders in runs, hits, doubles, and is in the UNR HOF with his #16 retired. With the 1994 team also in the HOF, Andy is actually in the UNR HOF 2 times.

I have a ton of stories that I will not bore you with. Maybe this was self-indulgent and boring for most (all?) of you, but it was cathartic for me. Many wanted to know who my son was and would have been fine with me just saying who it was. Some actually know who he is (Mark, Singing the Blues), and others may have guessed. I left enough clues. In my retirement years, I think I will write a book about a father and a AAAA professional baseball player. I would not expect it to be published, but it would keep my mind functioning and in a labor of love…Baseball and Family.

Minor League Report by DC

Player of the Day – Andre Jackson

The right-hander continued his roll with six strong scoreless innings giving up only two hits with no walks and six strikeouts. In his last 39.2 innings over eight starts he has given up only four earned runs while in his last 16.2 innings he has given up none. Jackson has cut down on his walks and now has 42 strikeouts and 17 walks with two walks in his last 16.2 innings pitched.

Great Lakes Loons 7 – Fort Wayne TinCaps 0 (San Diego)

The Loons started fast once again putting up five runs in the bottom of the first inning on four singles, two doubles and a sacrifice fly. It was the eleventh time this season they have scored five runs in an inning. A sixth run came across in the second inning on a Chris Roller home run and the seventh scored in the fifth inning on a Jacob Amaya single. Every Loon had a hit with only Dillon Paulson not having multiple hits. Great Lakes had 20 hits, seventeen of them singles.

Jackson was followed by 20-year-old Jose Martinez who is on a bit of a roll himself. He pitched three scoreless innings on two hits with two walks and one strikeout. In his last 17.1 innings Martinez has allowed only one run.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 6 – Lancaster JetHawks 8 (Colorado)

Josiah Gray started for the Quakes and ran into trouble in the bottom of the first inning giving up three runs. Two singles and a double plated another run in the third inning. His stat line for the game over six innings included eight hits, four runs, with no walks and four strikeouts. Following a shutout inning by Connor Mitchell things fell apart for Sven Schuller who gave up four runs while recording a single out. Max Gamboa stranded an inherited runner and recorded the final two outs.

The Quakes responded with three runs of their own in the top of the second inning on bases loaded walks to Marcus Chiu and Starling Heredia and a Drew Avans sacrifice fly. They scored again in the top of the fifth inning on back-to-back doubles by Connor Wong and Donovan Casey. In the sixth inning two more came across on a Drew Avans ground out and a JetHawk error. At that point the Quakes held a 6-4 lead but could not recover after Lancaster scored four in the bottom of the eighth inning. Connor Wong and Donovan Casey each had two hits while the Quakes as a team managed only six.

Rancho Cucamonga still hold a 2-game lead on Lancaster and the two teams square off again today with Geraldo Carrillo starting for the Quakes.

Tulsa Drillers 7 –  Northwest Arkansas Naturals  2 (Kansas City)

Still unheralded Victor Gonzalez started for the Drillers pitching 5.1 innings on six hits and two runs while walking one and striking out seven. Right-hander Ryan Moseley made his Drillers debut with 1.2 innings and all zeros except for one strikeout. He returned in the top of the eighth inning giving up a single followed by two ground ball outs. He was removed after 31 pitches. Michael Boyle took over for Moseley with a 5-2 lead and got the third out of the inning. It was Boyle’s fifteenth appearance of the season. Marshall Kasowski was called upon to finish up in the top of the ninth inning in his fifteenth appearance of the season. He gave up a single and a walk but struck out the side. Moseley in his debut picked up the win.

he Drillers scored in three consecutive innings on a Cody Thomas sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, a Chris Parmalee home run in the fifth inning and a two-run single by Keibert Ruiz and a sacrifice fly by DJ Peters in the sixth inning. Tulsa tacked on two more runs  in the bottom of the eighth inning against former major leaguer Drew Storen on a walk, two hit batters and a sacrifice fly by Chris Parmalee plus an infield single by Jared Walker.

 OKC Dodgers 1  –  New Orleans Baby Cakes  4 (Miami)

Justin DeFratus started for the Dodgers and pitched seven innings giving up seven hits, four runs with no walks and six strikeouts. Tony Cingrani pitched a perfect eighth inning.

The Dodgers had only four hits with a Cameron Perkins double the only extra base hit. The lone run scored when Shane Peterson attempted a steal of second base and scored on two throwing errors.

This article has 58 Comments

  1. Fantastic!

    There are 100s of players who could probably have had long major league careers with enough opportunity. It’s the same way in many professions. Musicians, for instance. There are many who just never get the chance to make it, but not for lack of talent..

    No way to know what might have been. The important thing is to live now, and not regret the past.

    Any one who worked that hard for that long has lots to give.

    I do wonder – you left our your part of your son’s story. Maybe you can share some of that some time as well..

    By the way – I’m glad all is well with you.

  2. Thanks AC. Every young ball player has a story and in some way every one is a success story. Andy’s is no exception. He gave everything he had to give, and more with a concussion and hurting from injury. He sounds like a wonderful young man.

    As a parent you must have gone through every at bat with him and suffered every injury.

  3. Minor League Update by DC (above).

    Great Article, Mr. Dominique! I’m sure there a book there!

  4. Thank you AC! First, and foremost, I’m glad to read that you are doing better! I hope you continue to have improved health.

    Great story about your son. I know you must be incredibly proud of Andy!! What a competitor he wa, and I’m sure still is!

  5. Bravo AC! This brought tears to my eyes. I can feel the love for your son and for the game through your words. I’m also happy to hear that you’ve been given a medical release to resume activities. Thank you for sharing!

    You have much to be proud of. Behind every player is a dad that invested a ton of time with his son to teach him the game we all love.

    Thank you, thank you.

  6. AC, I read your entire post and enjoyed it. What is Andy doing now? Whatever that is, he sounds like a person that will put energy, industry, and integrity into it. Also, good bounce back to good health. Life can have lots of scares. Please, keep writing. Thank you Mrs. Dominique for keeping AC connected to here.

  7. What a wonderful story AC. It’s great to have my favorite Trojan back in fine form.

  8. Good to have you back AC, thanks for sharing your son’s story, that came from the heart.

  9. AC–Your son is more than a AAAA player. He’s a major leaguer and a world champion. No one can ever take that away.

    1. Blackmirror99 is right. Your son is one of only 750 people on this planet at a given time to have play MLB.

      Glad your feeling better and strongly recommended retiring sooner than later.

  10. AC, welcome back. Glad your medical scare is over. Thanks for sharing the story about your son. He sounds like a strong person, one who gave his all. A son to be proud of as I am sure you and your wife are.

  12. AC, what a way to come back! Glad all is well with you. A wonderful tale of a father’s love for his son and the nation’s pastime. I look forward to retiring with you and reading your book!

  13. PS After your medical scare how much time do you think it buys you for Mark being nice to you?

  14. Fun to read your story AC. All of you guys are more in depth with baseball knowledge than I will ever have but I love the game and the Dodgers. Happy to read you’re okay and making “every day a Saturday” is good duty. Please keep up your analysis of the business side and decision making options these guys have to grapple with. Congrats on your life, marriage, son and keen mind. Also thanks to Mark for his service to the baseball gods…

  15. Glad you’re feeling better. Also yes, now we all understand why you root so hard for the Beatys and Garlicks of the world!

    1. True enough. It is easy to be fans of Seager/Belli/Kersh/Buehler…which I am a big fan of. I do have all four jerseys. But it is also fun to pick kids that are not destined to “make it” and put everything they have into this great game and somehow climb that mountain. It is also why I have very little patience for players loaded with talent, been paid, and just do not seem to want to work hard to get to the top. My two biggest complaints in that regard are Jeren Kendall and Yadier Alvarez. If Kendall worked his behind off to learn how to make consistent contact, go full Brett Butler, he could be an AS CF. Just how many infield hits could he get? With Alvarez, very few pitchers in baseball have an arm as gifted as his, but yet he somehow finds all sorts of ways of disappointing. This year is no different.

  16. Ken Rosenthal in The Athletic: The making of a slugger: How Cody Bellinger developed into one of the game’s biggest stars

    Awesome piece!

    1. Come to think about it, maybe that is why he was released by the Mets. He must have insisted on #31, and Piazza must have told Minaya to get rid of that kid.

  19. I suspect that AC has a much more stressful job than me, just being in the financial field. In our business, my wife and I split duties:

    She handles the operation and finance side (the operations manager and controller report to her) and I handle sales and marketing (the sales manager and marketing manage report to the VP of sales and marketing and he reports to me). My official title is “Visionary.” So, I am always working on cool new technologies, ideas and sales. It’s what I love and there is almost no stress. I’ll be 66 soon, but can see working another 8 to 10 years, if I’m healthy.

    She has a lot more stress than I do, and while she is 9 years younger than me, I am sure she will retire in a couple of years. Our son is going to buy us out as a succession plan.

  20. Inoa joins Willeman! PRomoted to Great Lakes, where the big arms are amassing.

    I imagine at some point Andre Jackson will be heading to Racho, ala Josiah Gray.

    1. Joel has been at Great Lakes all year (12 games, 16.2 IP). He was reassigned to Ogden for 2 days (roster manipulation?), but is back. Joel is converting from a starting pitcher to a reliever, while Zach is converting from a reliever to a starting pitcher. Both are 23 and are 1.1 years above average age of the Midwest League. Zach has 3 plus pitches and it makes sense for him to move to a starter. He is being slowly pushed coming back from TJ surgery. It is going to take him a little time to make a full conversion. Joel has a much easier road becoming a reliever. Live arm but lacks control. Cannot walk 10 batters in 16.2 innings as a reliever. Both should make it to RC this year.

  21. I have to say that the team’s performance yesterday was pretty awesome. Some of the players we are giving up on have a lot left to show. David Freese as an example: his OPS and ability to come through in playoff situations is proven, I see no need to add someone like Abreau at $16M when Freese makes $5M plus Abreau has no track record of playoff success on his resume. I love the way Freese drives the ball the other way with authority. Guys like him step up in the big moments consistently. Verdugo needed a day off, he’s been pressing a bit and is a rookie after all. I’m losing patience with CT3 though and he needs to play less than he has been at least for now. Against LHP Kike and CT3 are usually both in there but it puts Freese or Muncy or Verdugo on the bench along with Joc.

  22. AC, is there any reason we would have assumed Anthopoulos wasn’t involved?

    Did your son qualify for a pension? I hope so!

    1. Bluto, AA was only the Scouting Coordinator in 2005, and Scouting Coordinators are not usually involved in those decisions. What we were led to understand was that Toronto needed a catcher who could come up in emergency situations and be a RH bat. AA knew Andy (scouted him) and recommended him. It also didn’t hurt that the Phillies (Clearwater) and Toronto (Dunedin) are next door neighbors in the Grapefruit League ST. Some of the longer term Blue Jays FO knew him as well.

      No, Andy did not qualify for a pension. MiLB players do not get pensions, and he did not have near enough service time at the ML level to qualify.

      1. Jeez between the seemingly awful medical attention and the lack of retirement benefits, kudos to your son for pursuing his dream.

  23. There is coming a time when we won’t need two utility players who can’t hit. Who would you rather keep? Taylor or Kiki?

    1. Lots of assumptions there:

      1. Assuming both are utility players may not be correct;
      2. Assuming both can’t hit may not be correct;
      3. Assuming that the Dodgers would keep utility players who can’t hit may also be incorrect.
      4. Assuming that both will not hit is most likely totally wrong.

      1. All those assumptions are true 2 months into this season! How long do you wait

    2. If I had to choose one to be the utility guy, I would pick CT3 over Kike, but it’s close. The deal breaker is that Kike can’t hit lefties.

  24. AC, glad you’re doing better health wise and happy that you decided to share some of Andy’s story with the rest of the world. Go write your book. You can always self publish and you’ll enjoy the act of writing it. And you never know, it might bring you some nice retirement income. Have you figured out who should play him in the movie version? Mark can play the crusty old minor league manager.

  25. Pittsburgh has a beautiful stadium. Fans usually don’t show up in April and sometimes in May there but with such a great place to see a game, it would seem they would go and let baseball be the bi-product. Too chilly maybe.

  26. Pittsburgh is 28th in attendance this season ahead of only the 2 Florida teams. 10 teams are below 20,000 in average attendance including Cleveland and Tampa who have pretty good teams. Minnesota is playing great but is just above 20,000 in 20th place. Miami is below 10,000 which is worse than numerous AAA teams including the one in Las Vegas. The Dodgers are over 47,000 at home and over 35,000 on the road leading all teams. The Dodgers must be doing something right. Baseball as a whole must be doing something wrong.

  28. You obviously have a great view of the field Bums, but where’s the hotdog and beer vendors?

    1. I don’t see official Dodger Stadium seats like mine.

      Tomorrow? Looks like the race has already started.

  30. Boring? Not in the least bit! My father got cheated by his eldest son leaving a hole in him in the same spot that your son filled in the pride for you. Not only have you the gift of dynamic gab, you also have the true riches to gab about. You sir did not miss the boat. A very warm read for today. Thanx AC!

      1. I have e-mailed MJ 3 times recently. None of the emails have been opened.

  32. Goodnight to everyone on this blog, which by the way, for me is the best I’ve seen!
    Rain delay?

  33. Ryu got to 32 scoreless innings . It’s mind boggling to think he was barely past halfway to Drysdale and Hershiser!

  34. I’m starting to think the key to our postseason bullpen might be . . . Stripling.

    1. Or Urias

      Kershaw/Buehler/Ryu in some order.

      Maybe Maeda/Hill with a short leash.

      It will all come down to the pen.

  37. Miguel Vargas Since April 24 (25G):
    35H, 16BB, 11K
    .461 OBP (1st in Low-A)
    1.45 K/BB (2nd)

    Hitting .320 overall in the cold, pitcher-friendly Midwest League.

    He doesn’t turn 20 until mid-November.

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